Chapter 69.2 The Reader and Protagonist Definitely Have to Be in True Love

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Chapter 69.2 – Tower of God: The Undead Scourge

Du Ze doesn’t have the time to wonder why they came back. He was busy treating Xiu’s wounds with the help of the demon sisters and Ariel. Du Ze was quite frightened when he saw all of the holes in Xiu’s body. He couldn’t see anything while he was under Muir’s protection. He could only hear the sounds of the fighting, but from Xiu’s miserable condition he deduced that both parties were equally skilled and powerful. Although he didn’t see it and therefore couldn’t verify, Du Ze felt that whether it was Bael or Xiu, they both got the result they wanted.

Xiu seemed a little tired. He lazily leaned on Du Ze, silent. There were a lot of people around, but, like the last time they were in this space, nobody could disturb anyone else. After treating Xiu’s wounds with some highly effective medicine, Du Ze breathed a sigh of relief and found that Xiu was staring at something. Du Ze looked at the direction of Xiu’s gaze and froze – was that statue here before?

There were several stone platforms around the hall. This time one of them had a stone statue on it. The statue was mostly very standard, a blank humanoid carving, but it had bat-like wings that showed it was a demon. Du Ze is certain that this statue was not here the first time they came to the hall. It probably appeared after they emerged from the demon god arena.

… Is this a sign that they passed? The demon god arena is just the first level of the Tower of God?

Du Ze looked at the stone platforms again and this time he carefully counted the empty platforms. There were seven. Du Ze thought of Bael and the Lord God’s intention. Adding the number of stone platforms into the mix, Du Ze finally realized the author’s evil intention – each race was one level.

****! To finish the demon god arena trial, the Moe Lord turned into a bloody ruin. Having to fight every race … won’t he be so weary he turns into a wreck! QAQ

Xiu also looked thoughtfully at the platforms. The hall only has one door of light, meaning they can only go forward; no retreat is possible. Except for the immobile Old John and the Xiu-equipped Du Ze, the others were sent by Xiu to look for Rachel and the others.

Du Ze then remembered Dan’s information. The Thunder Regiment dispersed but, according to Dan, as long as they are able to finish the first trial, Xiu can recruit unlimited numbers of followers.

The others went around the hall several times but they did not meet any of the members of the Thunder Regiment. They didn’t know if it was because they had not emerged from the first trial or if something unexpected happened. Both Heidi and Dan said that the Tower of God randomly sent people to different places and whether they could meet again was up to fate. Thus, they can only forget about the Thunder Regiment for now.

Although Xiu was wounded and needed some time to rest, they decided to enter the light door after a day’s respite in the hall. In the hall, other people can see them even though they are in different spaces. With so many people watching, there was no sense of privacy, therefore many things are not easy to do and they could not even sleep at night.

Even seriously injured, Xiu still took Du Ze with him as he led the way. Although this was their second time to pass through the door of light, Du Ze still felt nervous at walking into the unknown. The bright light faded and before his vision was restored, Du Ze felt the wind blowing on his face, bringing with it the scent of grass and a faint smell of decay.

Du Ze blinked. They were in a small forest. Opposite them were hundreds of uniformed skeletons, including skeleton soldiers, skeleton warriors, skeleton archers, and a skeleton mage. Muir instantly transformed into his dragon form, ready to attack. A group of skeletons moved away to avoid being crushed to pieces. That was the only action they did.

All the skeletons knelt down to Xiu uniformly. Their leader seemed to be the skeleton mage, who opened its hollow mouth and, with a rattling voice, used a necromancy spell to speak: [Lord Commander,¹ please lead us to the Chaos Continent.]

… What is this?

Xiu was a bit surprised. He asked the skeleton mage: “What did you call me?”

[Lord Commander, please lead us to the Chaos Continent] said the skeleton mage.

No matter what it was asked, the skeleton mage would simply repeat the sentence monotonously and mechanically. It looks as if this was deliberately arranged. Du Ze stared at the skeletons. Unlike the demon god arena trial, the Tower of God wanted to give them hints this time?

Xiu thought for a moment, then tried to give the group of undead instructions. They really did obey his commands. It seems as though this group of skeletons have accepted him as their commander. The first half of the skeleton mage’s request was already clear and the other half seemed to say that Xiu should use these skeleton soldiers to conquer the Chaos Continent?

The situation was rather unclear and they didn’t know if they should believe the information that the skeleton mage provided. They decided to leave the woods and explore the area. Based on their previous experience in the demon god arena, the starting area shouldn’t be too dangerous. When the group of people walked off, the skeletons automatically followed them. Even when Xiu told them to stop, the skeletons would be slightly confused for a moment then continue following.

The forest was not big and they were able to reach its outskirts in about an hour. When Du Ze stepped out of the forest, what he saw made him think that he was in the Chaos Continent instead of inside the tower. The blue sky was endless and outside the woods was a small village with fewer than ten houses.

It was harvest time in autumn. Du Ze saw several farmers bending over to harvest the wheat. When those men looked up and saw them coming out of the woods, especially Xiu with wings and horns, their smiling faces instantly became panicked.

“The dead, the undead are coming-”

People screamed and the whole village was alarmed. Every household closed its doors and windows. The people who were in the fields were extremely frightened, shivering as they each held aloft a hoe.

Du Ze was rendered speechless by all of this. Old John kept a gentle smile on his face and came forward to try to communicate with them.

“I’m sorry to disturb you. Please do not be afraid, we have no malice towards you.” Old John’s voice sounded quite convincing: “If you wish, we will leave at once. However, before we leave can we ask…?”

Old John’s words were interrupted. One of the peasants seemed to be frightened into reckless behavior and grabbed a stone. He threw it at Old John.

“D***ed undead!”

Old John retreated to avoid the stone. On seeing this action, the others seemed to be infected with courage and picked up stones to throw at Du Ze and the others.

“Go to hell!”

“Evil undead, get the hell out of here!”

Xiu grabbed the stone that was about to smashed into Du Ze and crushed it into powder. He stared at the group of people cursing them. He seemed to be thinking of some bad memories. Just then, the skeleton soldiers following them arrived. When they saw the village, the skeletons became excited and rushed out of the woods to the farmers in the field.

The next time the farmers proudly lifted more stones, they saw the skeletons coming. One person’s neck was broken right away by a skeleton. Another reacted faster. He grabbed a hoe and pounced on a skeleton, cutting it in half. However, even if the skeleton had less than half of an intact body, it still used its hands to crawl. Reaching the farmer, it clung to his thigh then proceeded to climb up his body. The skeleton’s dark hollow eyes and the farmers panic-stricken desperate eyes met.

“Click-”

In the blink of an eye, the farmers in the fields were wiped out. The skeleton mage staggered toward the bodies. Its hollow mouth rattled out a spell and black smoke enveloped the corpses. The bodies instantly melted until only their skeletons were left. Those skeletons stood up; they were a little dazed at first but immediately joined the skeleton army, becoming indistinguishable from the others.

After the farmers were killed, the skeletons began to flock to the village. Du Ze subconsciously look at Xiu; Xiu doesn’t see what is happening or doesn’t want to stop them. Xiu was looking up to the sky at the direction that they came from. Compared to the blue skies here, the sky over there was full of layers and layers of dark clouds; it had an ominous atmosphere.

“So that is what it is…” Xiu laughed softly. His expression was strange, like mockery, but with a deep sadness. After noticing Du Ze’s gaze, Xiu put his hand on the back of Du Ze’s neck. His voice was soft and low as though he was telling Du Ze a bedtime story.

“Have you ever heard of the Undead Scourge?”

********

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1. The skeletons addressed Xiu as 百夫长大人 meaning the leader of a hundred men but I translated it non-literally as Lord Commander since there are more than just 100 of the undead soldiers and “100-men leader” sounds really awkward.